A Ghost no More
by NearHyyun
Summary: Kuroko's life is painful as he lives almost like a ghost. No one notices him except trouble. One time he bumps into Aomine and his life changes. He's at least visible to one more person. How will Aomine help out his new friend when he gets into trouble? CHAPTER 9 is LEWD BUT REST IS FINE.
1. A Friend

Aomine wasn't enthusiastic about school at all. It was absolutely boring just sitting there and listening to the teacher drone on and on about maps in Europe. At least it wasn't Japanese class, otherwise he would have to read aloud to the class about an author that he really didn't care about. He thought to himself about skipping class a bit just so he could get a breather as he scribbled circles on his page.

He lifted his hand in the air and waited for her to nod her head so he could speak "Teacher, I need to use the restroom." Aomine put a bit of urgency in his voice so it was believable that he was busting to go.

She twisted her lips a bit but let him go out. "Remember it's only halfway through the lesson but come back fast." She then continued to point to locations on the map and write interesting landmarks as he exited the classroom.

'Phew, I don't like class. If only basketball was graded because I would ace that..' he stuck his hands in his pockets as he walked slowly down the hall, away from class. His geography class was on the second floor. He wandered down the hall and ducked around the corner. No one would see him here unless it was another student. Aomine stretched his arms over his head and then he went downwards to touch his toes. He needed to still be a bit flexible because of basketball. After his little bit of exercise he leaned against window railing. It was almost quiet outside but he heard faint yells in the direction of the track. He sulked a bit wishing he had sports class again but that already happened on Tuesday.

He rested head on his hands and sighed. He knew that he shouldn't be skipping class and that it was important in the long run but he just wanted to relax and take a breather. Life shouldn't be this hard for a fifteen year old. He had so many expectations to fulfil especially in basketball. It was hard training with his team the "Generation of Miracles'. It was a weird nickname but it did suit them. After all, they were undefeated. The team was obviously the best but they still had to train hard to maintain their form.

He sighed again. "How long till school ends.." He pulled out his phone in his pocket and saw the time 13:48. "UGH, it's still too early but geography ends in about ten minutes." He pushed himself up from the railing and started to walk back to class.

Aomine was looking through the windows not paying attention to where he was walking until he felt something on his chest. The other guy let out an off from the impact.

Looking down he saw light blue hair. "Oh sorry I wasn't looking where I was going." He mumbled out. Aomine stepped back and observed the light blue haired guy. He was shorter than most people in their year but he would probably get a growth spurt soon. He then noticed his skin tone. The smaller boy was almost as pale as the walls, it was almost like he could camouflage.

"Don't worry about it." Kuroko bent over picking up his book that he dropped on the floor.

"Well, I need to get back to class." Aomine moved out of the way and took a step forward before Kuroko stopped him.

"Ah, excuse me." Kuroko softly spoke in admiration. "I've seen you before at basketball practice. You're one of the first string players and your plays are amazing."

Seen him? How come Aomine has never **seen** this kid before? "Huh?" He replied "Aren't you a little bit scrawny for basketball?" he turned his head now actually looking at the kid. He did have muscle but he wasn't nearly as buff as himself. "Oh, you might be just one of those people that play in the club instead of the game. That would makes sense."

Kuroko shook his head now standing up on his tippy toes. "I think you have it wrong. I am named Tetsu Kuroko and I've played on the court beside Akashi, Midorima, Murasaikibara and yourself in professional games. I just think you are being rude. I'm going back to class, sorry for bumping into you."

Aomine was left stunned after that massive response from Kuroko. 'What a weird kid' he thought to himself as he got back into class and sat in his chair. The last five minutes of class were easy because all they had to do was finish a work sheet which he could do as homework.

* * *

Finally Aomine was done with school for the day and he was slowly heading out to the gym for basketball practice. Him and Akashi had the last class together so they we walking and chatting about other members in the club.

Kuroko was also done with classes for the day and was making his way to the gym but he was stopped in his tracks by three older and taller guys.

"Hey you, I thought I told you not to walk around here." Hey spat at Kuroko and hastily grabbed him by the shirt and dragged him around the corner of the courtyard. "You didn't listen to me the first time so I have to put the message in your head." He shunned him against the wall and the two other guys held him there. A few punches were thrown against Kuroko but he couldn't handle the brute force of it.

"Please no more..." He slumped down onto the grass coughing from the impact to his stomach.

Aomine saw the light blue boy from this morning being surrounded by three people. 'Oh shi-' he thought to himself as he told Akashi that he would be right back. Akashi wasn't stupid and he followed Aomine as backup. He practically sprinted over to Kuroko and started to pull off the bullies.

"Oi, what are you doing!? Don't you **dare** hurt him no more!" Aomine roared. He was enraged that someone would pick on Kuroko even if he acted strangely to him in the morning. He was about to draw a punch at the main bully but the sound of Akashi clearing his throat made him stop and obey his captain.

" **Leave. Now**. " Akashi only spoke two words but the bullies were frightened.

"No one can tell me what to do." One of the spoke while the other two grabbed rocks in their hands. He nodded his head and they both threw them at Kuroko.

Kuroko winced at the rocks being thrown at him. "Ow, please just stop." He was weak in this sort of situation. Normally he'd like to avoid violence but these bullies wouldn't just quit picking on him. He had no idea how they could see him, he was practically invisible to the whole world except his parents, Akashi and Momoi.

"Okay punks. I've had enough. How about you get a taste of your own medicine." He grabbed one by the shirt, pinned him against the wall and kneed him good in the crotch. The guy slumped forward clutching his body as he writhed in pain. "It's painful huh? Serves you right."

"Aomine, no more. You don't want to get suspended again." Akashi was tending to Kuroko grabbing his sports towel out of his bag and pressing it against the blood.

"Fine. But if I see them outside of school you can't stop me." Aomine retorted waving his arms around to scare off the other two bullies. They picked up their clutching friend and started to run off and away from the courtyard.

"Aomine we need to take him to the nurses office. Can you maybe lift him." Akashi ruffled Kuroko's hair letting him know it will be all right.

"Uh sure, he won't be that heavy." He crouched down and placed Kuroko's arms around his neck and hoisted him up in a piggy back position. Akashi took Aomine's and Kuroko's bags and all three of them travelled slowly to the infirmary.

Once there the nurse cleaned up his wounds and asked how it happened. Kuroko being the trickster he is, lied about tripping over his shoelaces and falling onto the rocks in the courtyard. Aomine frowned a bit at his response but it was better than nothing. If Kuroko did say the truth it would mean that the teachers would investigate this and he would be likely to get suspended again for helping out his team mate.

"There. Take it easy for a bit to let the wounds heal and be careful where you are going okays." She beamed a cheerful smile at him while returning back to her paperwork.

Once out, Akashi told Kuroko to relax during this basketball practice but Kuroko refused. He wanted to train and refine his skills and overall basketball mechanics. Sure he was the 'phantom sixth man' but he was good at misdirection and not really good at basketball itself. Missing one practice would mean he would have to start at the beginning and he wasn't going to risk that.

* * *

In the locker room Aomine waited for everyone else to leave before talking to Kuroko. He had to really stare at the light blue haired boy so he wouldn't just disappear on him. 'He's not going anywhere, just changing' he thought to himself and took a split second to look at his phone but lost sight of Kuroko. He turned around and did a 360 spin looking for him but couldn't see anyone else.

"Aomine-kun I'm still here." Kuroko had finished changing and lightly poked Aomine's side.

He jumped at the sudden unexpected touch "Kuroko, don't scare me like that." After calming himself down from the fright he crossed his arms and furrowed his eyebrows. He wanted answers. "Okay, why did you lie to the nurse? No one is that absent minded to trip over their shoelaces."

"It's just something I'm used to. I don't want to cause trouble for anyone and snitch on them. I just like living in the shadows."

"But Kuroko. You needed to tell someone about those bullies. They might hurt you more next time. Rocks could turn into knives." Aomine was agitated. No one deserved to be hurt especially Kuroko who wouldn't even hurt a butterfly. " **Don't** be used to it." He sighed, "Look, depend on your friends."

"I don't really have any, I tend to be by myself in my classes and breaks." He was ashamed. Aomine was right. The first time these bullies saw him they just spat on him, the second time they hit him a few times but the rocks this time really hurt. He couldn't bear to imagine what sort of pain he would be in from knives.

"You might have been alone before but you can depend on me." Aomine went up to hug his new friend. Poor Kuroko having to endure loneliness but not anymore. "Seriously, depend on me. I can protect you."

"Thank you.." Kuroko replied softly into Aomine's chest. It seriously felt good to have someone else that can see him and acknowledge that he is here and not just a ghost. Hopefully his life would be better with someone else's company.

* * *

 **Author's Note:** Thank you so much for reading my first chapter. It's the first story I've written and I plan on it being someone good. Sorry if I make grammatical and punctuation mistakes. You can always tell me and I can edit it in.

Should I make Aomine and Kuroko a couple later on?

Please **review** and **favourite** , it helps me out a lot.


	2. Sour Memories

Kuroko felt in a better mood than when he left his home in the morning. He had one more friend at school but it didn't help his household situation. Being an earshot from the door he heard almost everything, his parents yelling, a slap and some bottles clashing together with a door slam. 'It must be my mom..' Kuroko thought as he unlocked the front door. It was odd for her to be home on a Thursday but she did have odd office hours and travelled a lot for business meetings.

His dad greeted him at the door. "How was school today son?" His dad meekly smiled rubbing his cheek where his wife had slapped him.

"It was alright dad, nothing out of the ordinary but I did make a new friend." He nonchalantly replied as he slipped off his shoes and took of his sweater at the front door.

"A friend? Are you sure he is your friend and not some bully?" He was both amazed and worried because of the bandages still on his son.

"Yes, he plays basketball with me." He lifted his arm and moved it a bit to show his dad that he was fine. "And this is just a small bruise, I just tripped that's all. No need to worry about me okay." He played his act well. He didn't want to make anyone worry about him or his life, not even his dad.

"Kuroko. Your mom and I got into another fight. I'm just a bit sore but you have to go into your room. I don't want you being there when she gets drunk and starts swinging her arms around okay. You're my only child and you need to be kept out of harms way." He grabbed Kuroko's bag and placed his hand on his son's shoulder leading him down the long hallway and to his room. They installed a lock for this reason. She couldn't even handle a key while drunk and it made Kuroko's room the safest in the entire house.

He came back a few minutes with snacks and water as a beverage. "Dinner will be at 7pm. I'll bring it to your room if she hasn't left by then." His dad tried to stay positive but her anger and rampages took their toll on both of them. He only really stayed with his wife because of the arranged marriage, the money and for his son. A mother was still better than none but this wasn't the way to do it.

Kuroko's room had a light blue and white wall colour to reflect his hair colour which he really loved. He never had dyed his hair and many people believed it to be fake but if they saw his father you would almost say they were twins, except his dad wore oval glasses. He had a small desk for studying and in the front draw he kept a laptop that he got previously for Christmas. He used it mostly to watch basketball and funny videos to lift his spirits when his mom caused chaos. A double bed was placed almost exactly in the center with a wooden bed frame and Columbia blue bed sheets with white pillow cases. If you couldn't guess already, blue was his favourite colour. It really seemed to calm him down.

Kuroko was all alone with his thoughts for now. He slid down the wooden door and released a lengthy sigh that lasted for several moments. Just when something gets better, other things have to get worse. It was going to be a presumably long night with her yelling and violence. The one time he tried to help his dad against her, she just changed targets and hurt Kuroko instead. And it wasn't just a slap...

* * *

Just remembering what she did that night was torture to his brain. Sometimes he would have nightmares of her abusing him again and again. The death glare, dragging him by his shirt. Having the collar choke him until she stopped at the bathroom. Don't forget the dunking. She would dunk him every time in the bath filled with freezing cold water till she got the _golden_ reply.

" _Am I a good mom?_ " She would ask this every time.

Kuroko would lie about everything except this one thing. His feelings were nothing to mess with. "No, you're awful" He screamed. He was dunked for his incorrect reply. He changed his answer from awful to trash, horrible, disgusting, horrendous.. Just any sort of nasty adjective he could think of. But this ended up displeasing her more.

"You're worthless, I just wished you disappeared." She managed to lash out the words through her clenched teeth. Pulling his head up once more before dunking him even longer in the water. She let her grip go and left the bathroom, bored from her lack of praise from her son. "What's the point of having a kid if he won't like you? Ugh, I'm going out." She took her coat and ran off into the night.

Kuroko now left alone in the bathroom tried to move his arms but they were too shaky from the ordeal. He needed to grab the edge of the bathtub to pull himself up from the cold water. "Augh- ahaa" His head rose above the water and he curled himself up on the floor. Short raspy breaths echoed in the room. He barely lived but now he needed to dry his hair off otherwise he would get hypothermia from the cold. He shakily stretched out his hand to the hanging towel but missed, He was cold and stuck on the floor with no energy to move. "No more.." he mumbled as his eyes slowly closed and he passed out at his limit.

* * *

It was a painful memory but that's all he could remember from that night. 'Maybe if I become best friends with Aomine that I can stay over at his place on the weekends. It would beat staying here with the constant drama every time **she** was here.' He thought to himself as he covered himself in blankets and sulked. He didn't feel like homework or studying. Just seeing her made him in a sour mood.

It eased their minds that she wasn't going to come back tonight. She texted his dad a few hours later saying she was staying at a hotel. It was dinner time and Kuroko unlocked his door. It was a quiet meal but had a calming atmosphere. It was like the calm before the storm. Kuroko's household life might have sucked but his father's deluxe meals with extravagant flavours made up for it.

* * *

School the next day was better. He hung around Aomine in the morning and so many people said hello or hi to him. It made Kuroko feel like a normal highschooler instead of being ignored. If only he had classes with him though. Being alone did suck but the breaks made it much better. Lunch time came around 12pm. Kuroko happily made his way to the cafeteria and waited for his friend Aomine to arrive. He normally ate his lunch outside away from the masses. Aomine arrived earlier than Kuroko expected and was seated at a table near a window.

"Hey there. Is this spot okay? We can move tables if you want or eat outside?" Aomine stood up to greet Kuroko.

"It's okay. I haven't eaten in the cafeteria before, so any seat will do." Kuroko politely replied and sat next to Aomine placing his boxed lunch on the table.

Kuroko's bento was fancy compared to Aomine's peanut butter sandwich. It had tempura shrimp, steamed broccoli and snow peas, white rice, two small egg omelettes, shredded cabbage and to top it off there was fried onions.

"Itadakimasu" They placed their palms together and said the phrase before picking up their food and eating it.

Aomine ate his sandwich insanely fast but was still hungry. his stomach growled to confirm it. "I'll be back, I just want to buy a snack to fill me up." He stood up, left and came back before Kuroko was even done with half of his lunch. The smell of all the flavours together filled up Aomine's nose and he just wanted a bite of the food but it was impolite to steal someone elses lunch.

His mouth watered at the scent and sight of Kuroko's bento."Wow, you get such great food from home. Your mom must be an amazing cook." He placed his arm on the table and propped his chin against it, trying to spark some conversation between them.

Kuroko's eyebrows bunched up and felt the undying anger within him. Aomine didn't know his family situation so he didn't know how Kuroko truly felt." "Dad. My dad makes my food."

"So, do you not have a mom?" Aomine thought to himself. 'If his dad was cooking then where was his mom?'

"Err..." He really didn't want to talk about this but friends shared their thoughts and feelings _right?_ "I do have a mom, but she's never really there, just wish she would leave already I'm sick of her every time just screwing things up for me and my dad." He spoke hastily, venting about her. He had so much pent up anger and frustrations from her.

"Ah okay. Sorry things aren't so great. If you need someone to talk to you can always come to me. I promise everything you say will be kept between us."

"Thank you Aomine-kun.'

"You can drop the formal name, Just call me Aomine."

"But I respect you, but if it makes you more comfortable, Aomine-ku-, no Aomine." Kuroko smiled at this progress of friendship.

The rest of lunch they talked about television shows and other interests they really were getting closer as time went by. Basketball practice was on after school and that''s when trouble came up for Kuroko. Bullies always found him no matter what.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Thank you for all the favourites, follows and reviews. It made me smile knowing so many people wanted to read what I write.

Writing about Kuroko's bento made me hungry.

Can't wait to write the next chapter. It'll be up in a week or so :)


	3. Unwanted Player

It was finally time for after school basketball practice. Kuroko's junior high, Teiko had a match planned on the weekend so right now they were refining their movements, increasing their reaction rate and also learning to predict their opponent. It wasn't going to be an overly difficult match against Jushikan junior high but they didn't want to seem weak or slacking to the other teams.

Akashi started off the training with leg warm ups while Sanada, their coach was putting out orange cones in a line for a dribbling drill. Kuroko was never really good at these but with Momoi's permission he got to use the gym before and after basketball practice for extra training. Luckily Kuroko was amazing at misdirection. Tapping the ball left and right on the court, never letting it once touch the floor like a ghost. It helped out his team in getting the ball from one end of the court to the goal in a matter of seconds. One of their highest scores in a game was 230 to 21. The opponents took their defeat sorely and accused Teiko from cheating but it was honestly good team work and technique. Anyone could become as good as the Generation of Miracles if they trained hard enough.

Akashi saw Kuroko struggling in the corner to touch his toes. "Aomine, help Kuroko stretch to get more flexible." Aomine nodded directly at Akashi and moved towards Kuroko. He kneeled on the ground behind him and slowly pushing his back. Slowly after a few stretching attempts he touched his toes but only briefly. It was very important for Kuroko to be flexible so he could move swiftly between the players at a quick speed to pass off the ball. The rest of the class were doing the exercise too and touched their toes easily.

"Kuroko?" Midorima questioned, breaking the silence from the stretching. "I know someone in our year called Kuroko but didn't know he played basketball, he is shorter than most of us." He tilted his glasses upwards towards his nose like a know-it-all.

Murasaki was also interested in this _new player_. He stood up and walked over to him. Kuroko stood up to greet him to be polite. "He's on our team? Since when?" Murasaki asked, lifting up Kuroko under the shoulders with ease. "He's really light, are you positive he actually plays on the court with us." While Murasaki was questioning his team mate, Kuroko was staring like a puppy at Akashi for help.

"Yes, Kuroko is on our team and has been since our first training session. Put him down, we can't risk injuries." Akashi snapped at the team members for not not noticing Kuroko before. At least Aomine wasn't among the bunch of speechless team mates. "Let's continue on with training. You guys can talk to each other during the break."

It was now time for basketball drills. Coach Sanada set up four practice courses for passing, shooting, blocking and ball handling which included dribbling. Kuroko was in the line for ball handling since he needed to practice his dribbling and foot work. He worked through the course with a slow pace the first time and his team mate next in line snatched the ball and sprinted past him, completing the course in a matter of seconds. Kuroko wasn't on par with anyone else but he did try. Aomine in one of the other lines gave him a thumbs up as encouragement.

"Move, move move move. Keep going. Pretend the cones will hurt you. Sanada shouted at Kuroko. He wasn't trying to pick on him or be mean but only push him along to get better. "Keep your feet up, don't let them slide across the floor. You'll lose traction on your shoes. And that applies to everyone. Even you Aomine, refine your passes."

Aomine let out a tsk to the coach but he couldn't help his unpredictable play style. He loved weaving, swooshing and ducking in and out of players just to score a slam dunk on the other end. But to make his coach happy he would need learn to how to refine and control his technique. He tried to lift his feet more but it only made him stumble. He almost tripped over a cone but he put his weight at the front of his body and continue to plow on. 'Quick reaction rates, mean quick decisions.' He thought to himself as he made it back to the start of the course.

it was a bit awkward for Kuroko on the court training since he felt multiple eyes on him. He felt the eyes of the other first string players looking down on him and judging his every move. It was infuriating. He really wanted to try his damn hardest with the shooting exercise. Unfortunately his stance was improper so the ball had a lack of control. It slipped out of his grip and spun out of control, hitting the corner of the back board and straight back into Kuroko's forehead. What utter misfortune.

"Oof." Kuroko muttered to himself placing both his hands on his forehead to try and ease the pain. "Coach." The coach turned around and told Kuroko to take a breather.

"Damn." He kicked the trash can in the changing room. "I have to go and mess up.. I always end up doing it anyways.." He sat on the bench and folded his arms in frustration. They were watching him, analysing him. He really wasn't a basketball player but more of a helping hand. They just haven't seen him in action on the court. He took a few moments to calm himself before rising up with enthusiasm and made his way back out. Luckily for him they were going to do a practice match and Aomine was on his team. They were going to play against Midorima and Kise and three other members of the team.

It was a ferocious and enigmatic battle because Kise kept using his copy cat ability against Aomine. This made him actually think about creating new moves and feints to avoid him and score points . He wish he didn't have to play against Kise and Midorima though.

Everyone was strong in their own way and that made Kuroko thankful that they were on his team. He was going to prove that he was fit for basketball and didn't need muscles or height to make an impact in the game. His tiny frame weaved between the players, evading their arms to tap the ball into the direction of where Aomine standing. If you had to compare Kuroko's play style to anything, he would be a ghost. Always hiding and appearing at the right time to 'scare them' or in this case to take the ball. Kuroko creeped behind and stole the ball from Sekiguchi's grasp in a matter of seconds and pushed it along to his team. That is where Akashi grabbed it and threw it in the net from the 3 pointer line.

The match went back and forth in points. Everyone wanted to show off that they were the best and this was no exception for Kuroko. It wasn't a proper match so coach Sanada called the time at 25 minutes and was proud of all his players.

"Great job everyone. We're just going to practice some final basketball techniques before the end of training." He picked up a basketball from the bag and called for Kise to help him with the technique. ." He gave the ball to Kise and instructed him to dribble it on the spot. "This one is called the under dash." He bent his posture to be lower than Kise's and tapped the ball before it reached Kise's hand. He moved the ball out of Kise's hand grip, did a spin around him and started dribbling away. "See. Nothing that hard. It's like your usual techniques but you need to follow the hand technique. The lower stance gives you more leg power and the spin should confuse them since they can't tell your direction."

Aomine and Kise got the move on their first try while Midorima was struggling a bit with the spin. He wasn't suited for fast motion and that's why he stayed on the other side of the court to shoot long distance hoops. It was his speciality and it amazed the crowd when he shot a perfect hoop from their own net. A full court shot done in one easy movement.

Everyone managed to try out the technique successfully which made their coach proud of what they've accomplished today. "Thanks everyone for coming to training today. We'll have practice tomorrow at the same time so make sure to come."

* * *

It was early in the morning around 7am and Kuroko decided to try improve his shooting on the court. Midorima was the god at this kind of shooting but it couldn't hurt to have some of his own skill. He took off his shoulder strap and placed his school bag down near the entrance of the gym and also took off his white sweater and tucked it in his bag so it wouldn't restrain him. He then walked to the storage room to find a basketball to use. He stepped onto the court, retying his shoelaces so he wouldn't trip and practised scoring from the middle and both the sides to see if that made him better.

Kuroko got into his own zone. He was a shadow that could engulf anyone and his target right now was the net. He did a run up and initiated how Midorima would jump in the air, floating backwards and shoot. It didn't work for him well since he didn't have the height but his enthusiasm didn't waver.

While Kuroko was practising his shooting, Haizaki one of the mean spirited, rowdy and vulgar players on their team came through the door way and mumbled to himself how Kuroko was too weak to play basketball. He noticed Kuroko pathetically trying to score a hoop and assumed that it was Kuroko's bag just near his feet and thought about playing a prank on him and steal something valuable. He rumbled through and found a small pink box and inside it was a silver bracelet with a small rose charm attached to it. "You won't be needing this." He smirked and decided to pocket the box and it's contents in his pocket and walk away. Seeing Kuroko later,all distraught will be very entertaining.

He tried again from more stationary points, bending his knees more for a bounce before letting the ball hit the rim and slide into the net. "Yes. Finally got one." he cheered himself on as he tried again and scored. It wasn't beginners luck the first time. He kept practising hoops till it was almost time for homeroom. Unfortunately he didn't notice that the pink box was gone since he didn't get dressed with his sweater.

It was only until second period that he realised that the pink box was gone and all the colour flushed from his face. _How could he lose an important gift like that?_ Kuroko bought that bracelet for Momoi to show his appreciation for being a good co-manager on the team and also one of the only other people that noticed him when everyone was oblivious to his existence. He did have a small crush on her after all but he would never act on it since she was a friend. Kuroko was all depressed and out of his usual self because he lost the bracelet.

* * *

Haizaki was there to bother Kuroko at lunch. Aomine didn't like the teenager but he couldn't hurt anyone on his team or he would get kicked out. But seeing Haizaki steal Kuroko's home brought bento really aggravated him. Where where his manners.. probably where he left his human decency.

"Give me some." Haizaki slung his arm around Kuroko's shoulder pretending to be all friendly. He used to bother Kuroko when he ate lunch outside but lost sight of him for a few weeks till he saw him eating lunch with Aomine in the cafeteria. He kept eyeing Kuroko's food, taking most of the fish and onions.

Aomine had enough of him picking at poor Kuroko's bento. "Dude, cut that out. Let Kuroko eat in peace. Don't you have your own lunch?"

"Yeah, but his is better."

"Go ask your parents to make you a bento then." Aomine and Haizaki kept arguing back and forth about bentos and how impolite it was to steal food before Kuroko spoke up.

"Sorry Haizaki, I'm really hungry."

"Oh come on, aren't we **friends?** Well don't **friends, share?** " A smirk crept upon his lips.

"Well they do, but what you're doing is stealing." Aomine spoke for Kuroko.

"It's not stealing if he knows where it went." He shrugged "Whatever I'm out. Hope no one will steal anything _else_ though." Haizaki said it almost in a sly and cocky manner before stealing a bit more of Kuroko's salmon and walked off to find his own group.

* * *

On the walk home, Kuroko dragged his feet and drooped his arms to his sides. His companion Aomine, had noticed something was wrong with him today.

"Hey you've been looking a little glum today,what's wrong?" Aomine had gotten better at reading his friend's expressions.

"Ahh nothing, just forget about it. I won't get to see it again so.." Kuroko trailed off staring at the park on their way home. He didn't want to tell him what he lost in case word got back to Momoi. It was supposed surprise for her today for noticing him and being a good co-manager.

"What won't I see? Did you lose something expensive? I can help you find it." he eagerly asked. He hated seeing friends sad and how hard could it be to find something Kuroko misplaced?

"It's kinda expensive..." he really didn't want to talk about it but Aomine turned this into a game of 20 questions. A few replies back and forth gave Aomine the answer.

"So you lost a bracelet huh? I never would have guessed that you'd be the type to wear something like that. Whatever suits you." He shrugged.

"It wasn't for me to wear. I got it as a gift for M-" he placed his hand over his mouth to shut himself up since he didn't want to spoil the surprise.

"M? Your girlfriend or crush?" He nudged Kuroko.

Kuroko sighed. "It's not like that. It was an appreciation gift. No one understands how important that is to me. She noticed me when no one else did. Akashi noticed me because he was our head player but only because he had to on the court. Outside of basketball I was invisible to everyone but her. She is very dear to me."

"I see." He didn't know how hard it must be for his friend. He didn't want to be invisible to everyone, it just happened. "it's okay now, I'll help you find it. And hey, you're not invisible to me anymore. I might not mean as much as Momoi but I can protect you."

"Thanks Aomine. You probably want to see how it looks like. " He pulled out his phone and showed him the photo of it. His mum and him picked it out when they went shopping last weekend. It was rare that she wasn't stressed so he took a nice portrait photo as a memory. "Here, it's just a usual silver bracelet with a charm on it. It's her favourite."

"Holy cow, isn't that almost two hundred dollars? And this is just an appreciation gift? We better find it then." He stood up from his bench now fired up. "Let's retrace your steps and see if we can find it."

Kuroko feels relieved that he has someone to help him find it. They walk back down the road to school and all the way back to the gym where Kuroko was in the morning. Unfortunately there were no clues and no pink box anywhere to be found.

* * *

 **Authors Note:** My longest chapter yet. I made up the high school and the basketball move. This chapter was more basketball related.

Please review,favourite and follow. I want to read some criticism to improve. Thank you so much for reading :) I'll try and update weekly.


	4. Lost and Found

Kuroko and Aomine were exhausted after running back up and down trying to find the little pink box that had his bracelet in it. Aomine bought Kuroko a small strawberry milk and himself a chocolate one as they sat down on the park bench watching the little children play on the swing set.

Kuroko sighed. He wasn't going to find it. He could probably buy another one but his mom wasn't in the best sort of mood these last few days.

"Kuroko, It's okay, we can search one more time and see if we miss it. Third time is the charm." He smiled and patted Kuroko on the shoulder.

"Don't bother. It's not going to turn up."

"How can you say that? Maybe you left it at your place in the morning?"

"I didn't, I put it in my bag this morning before going to training."

"You might think you did...We'll check the gym again." He eagerly replied. He sincerely wanted to help out his friend.

"Aomine. It's okay. I might just go home." He stood up, grabbed his bag , said bye to Aomine and slowly walked home. He needed to be alone with his thoughts for now. Who would even steal a bracelet? It just didn't make sense. _Was this an act of revenge for the other day? No, no, those guys never went near the gym in fear of Aomine._

* * *

As soon as he got home, he locked himself in his room in case his mom was around she wasn't. He got himself distracted with homework. It was algebra and he wasn't the best with it but his perseverance kept him going. He wrote equations and solutions till his pencil became blunt. Kuroko finished a bit early before dinner and that's when his mother came home. He really felt ashamed for losing the bracelet but he still wanted to ask her for some more cash to buy another bracelet. He caught her in the hall after she came back from work, still wearing her ironed grey skirt and jacket with a white bloused top. Kuroko's mother was tall and slim, probably because she hardly came home from dinner since being so busy. She also wore rectangular glasses like his father. He fumbled his wording but his mom got the jist of what he was saying.

"Lost it? How?" She crossed her arms and undid her hair tie letting her long brown hair lay on top of her shoulders.

"It's just gone. I don't know where."

"Nothing ever turns up lost. Can children be even more stupider?" She sighed and clearly wasn't satisfied with his response.

"I'm not stupid mother, I just seem to have misplaced it." He didn't want to get her angry but he didn't lose it. It was just gone without a trace.

'This is why kids shouldn't own expensive things."

"Then why did you let me buy it in the first place?"

"Because I was in a good mood and you asked me to." Which was true. Kuroko had proof of the day on his phone. She was happy and smiling wearing a summer hat and looking young and carefree. He wished she looked like this everyday but with the alcohol and stress it was highly unlikely. Just have to treasure moments like that.

"Then can I get a new one?"

She blurted out "No."

"Why not?"

"It's expensive."

"But we aren't poor."

"I'm not buying you another one. End of discussion. I'm famished r-." Her phone rang with a beeping tone and she picked it up and walked over to her room and closed the door behind her to have her private conversation.

Kuroko was disheartened but was glad that the conversation with his mother went alright and she didn't hit him. Dinner was alright and his mother came out of her room in a happier mood. Whatever that phone call was lifted her spirits and Kuroko decided to ask her again. Unfortunately, she still said no but patted his hand in sympathy.

In the living room, Kuroko slouched on the sofa and gazed at the tv thinking about where he could have lost it. I knew he put it in his bag because he opened the box in the morning and smiled thinking about Momoi's reaction when he gave it to her after practice but when he looked in his bag in second period it was gone. He did practice in the morning... And Haizaki...

He recalled yesterday's encounter at lunch and Haizaki trying to be all friendly and cheerful. Recalling his words he did say _"Hope no one will steal anything else though"_ which seemed off then but slowly Kuroko pieced everything together and realised Haizaki was the one to take it. Kuroko wished he was nicer but everything was an act, to play around and tease him. 'Ugh. Of course it would be him to take it. But why... How will I get it back though?" Kuroko thought to himself as he scratched his head. He grabbed out his flip phone and dialled Aomine's number telling him his discovery on who took it.

"Are you sure it was him?" Aomine questioned. He didn't think Kuroko was stupid but why would another guy want a bracelet.

"Yes, I am. he might have gotten it to give to his girlfriend or something."

"True..." Aomine cursed on the other end and paused for a second. "How should we get it back though? We need to bait him out? We could tell Akashi?"

"No need. We can do it with just us two..." Kuroko told Aomine his plan where he would get into Haizaki's way and see if he can pinpoint the bracelet on him and have witnesses around.

"Okay. That seems to work, I'll just stick tight to you tomorrow in case it gets worse."

"Sure thing. Meet me at the park at 7:30 am and we can walk to school. Have a good evening, bye." He flipped his phone closed and sunk into the sofa feeling relieved. This plan should work and he shouldn't get that hurt by confronting Haizaki.

* * *

Kuroko decided to put his plan in action when he was nearby Haizaki. It was basketball practice and he decided to stick near Haizaki when they were doing a practice match. He still played his role well but kept him in the corner of his eye. Once people were turned away Kuroko let his arm slide past his pocket and Haizaki reacted poorly. He squinted his eyes at the blue haired brat and walked off.

'Wow. He didn't want to hit me?' Kuroko was puzzled but there was still time for training. he stuck nearby him and moved the ball out of Haizaki's grip which got him aggravated. The taller guy came closer and started to jog to get closer to the ball and **bumped** into Kuroko's left side as pay back.

"Oof. What the-." Kuroko bent his body forward and exhaled feeling the force of the blow. In that position he noticed something shiny coming from his basketball shorts. By moving his head slightly he saw part of the rose charm.

"Hey. That bracelet isn't yours." Kuroko stood up and rubbed his side. "It's mine."

"Oh yeah. Then how come I found it?" He smirked and put his right hand in his pocket to where the bracelet was.

"Because you stole it." Kuroko yelled out to make his point. "Give it back."

"How about... hmm, no."

"What do you mean? It's mine." Kuroko retaliated and used his voice to get the other's attention.

"Listen here you little twerp. Finder's keepers. Don't make me-." He roared but was cut off with Akashi stepping forward towards the pair.

"What's the matter. Why are you guys interrupting practice?" He was agitated and not in the mood for petty nonsense.

"Akashi, he stole my possession. a bracelet." Kuroko spoke fast, not giving Haizaki a chance to speak.

"You two come with me. Outside." All three of them walked outside and Aomine stopped under the tree's shade.

"Haizaki, give it back."

"Give what. Kuroko was the one snooping."

"You know what. The **bracelet.** Aomine told me how Kuroko lost it yesterday but toy were the one who stole it." There was silence for a few moments and Haizaki didn't want to grab it out of his pocket to return it. "Just give it back or you're kicked out of the club."

"Hmph, fine. Take this girly crap back." He grabbed the bracelet from his pocket and threw it directly at Kuroko's chest.

"Thanks Akashi." Kuroko mumbled and pocketed the bracelet now.

After practice Haizaki confronted Kuroko saying it was his fault for even saying anything. Haizaki had enough of Kuroko for one day so he elbowed him in the chest on **accident.** "Oops, didn't see you there." He didn't just stop there, he went and turned around and whacked him with his other arm which caught attention of the other males in the changing room. Another elbow came flying towards Kuroko but he stepped out of the way and it hit the metal locker instead.

"Stand here and get your punishment." He growled, kicking the locker to get Kuroko.

Akashi was there and had enough of this ruckus and drama and told the others to restrain Haizaki. "Okay. You're out of the club. You're causing trouble for us and going to give Teiko Junior High a bad name. Don't come back tomorrow."

"Fine. Whatever.." Haizaki walked off laughing.

* * *

Aomine wasn't satisfied with how Haizaki got off the hook with a simple expulsion of the club and wanted to take matters in his own hands. He managed to get dressed and follow him out of the gym.

"Oi. Hazaki. I want to show you a piece of my mind.." Aomine grabbed Haizaki by the collar and pulled him through the courtyard and to a secluded shady area.

"I haven't done anything to you." He laughed knowing that they were friends.

"This is what you get for messing with my buddy" Aomine punched Haizaki directly in the jaw and then gave him an uppercut to the stomach.

"Is that all you got?" He was wheezing from the punches but managed to stand upright.

"No. But I can't get suspended." He gave Haizaki one last punch in the stomach and walked off.

"Tell your friend Kuroko or whatever that twerp is called that I'll get back at him. No one will notice him gone." Haizaki shouted, coughing from the blows to his stomach but Aomine didn't care. He was going to be there for his friend.

* * *

 **Author's Notes** : Thanks so much for reading. I got 300 views on my story already. That's a lot of my first ever chapter story.

I have plans for next chapter. But it will be mainly about a basketball match.

Please review, follow and favourite to keep up to date :)


	5. Basketball Frenzy

The rest of the training sessions went without a hitch ever since Haizaki was kicked out. Slowly Kuroko's team mates understood his potential in the team and even gave him the nickname 'the phantom' since he kept popping in at the right time and manoeuvred the ball around the court. His misdirection proved to be useful and the coach decided to set up a special training track of people to catch his passes. It was great having his team more in sync which meant they would be even more unstoppable when the nationals came about.

Kuroko was proud of his results and the little argument he had at the 'first encounter' with Aomine and then the rest of the team didn't bother him anymore. It was all in the past and having the strength and trust from his team mates made him feel powered up and respected that they believed in his unusual basketball ability.

Aomine started practising with Kuroko in the mornings after the Haizaki incident. It meant Aomine finally got to class on time which helped him out with his grades and overall mood. Kuroko did improve his bond with Aomine and they became more in sync. Aomine describe himself as the light to Kuroko's shadow, meaning that they worked so well together.

* * *

The weekend rolled around and it was the time for the practice match against Jushikan Junior High. They entered in with their orange and black jerseys with the writing written in white. None of them had outstanding hair colours like the Teiko boys did but that didn't mean anything ability wise. The coach greeted Momoi and she directed them to their side of the court and welcomed them to the school gym.

While stretching and warming up, Aomine glanced over and was eyeing the opponents through his squinting eyes. Brown or black hair, tall frames and muscular bodies with the exception of the short member on the team.

"Kuroko, is he shorter than you?"

"Uhh." Kuroko turned around in his uniform sporting the light blue and white colours and looked over to the short member standing next to the coach. "I think he is?" he answered questionably. It was hard to tell due to the distance between them on the court.

"Is he maybe the coach's son?" Aomine joked, changing his stretching position to focus on his quads.

"I don't think so, he does have the jersey on and a number." Kuroko sternly replied.

The stands slowly filled up with people as their exercising kept going. Akashi was talking to his team discussing strategies and player compositions. They did briefly look at a video of their play style and it was similar to one of the junior highs they did play in the finals.

it was almost time to start the match so Momoi organised for both the teams to greet each other in the middle of the court. Each team moved to their respective sides of the court and wished the other team good luck politely. Standing directly across from the other team, Kuroko noticed the height differences. Murasaki was taller than all of the other players which he thought was unusual for a fifteen year old but people grow at different rates. They bowed and then moved back to their benches to discuss who will play in the first half.

Coach Sanada grabbed out his notebook and showed them the team a likely composition he had made from last training session. "Okay, we'll have Akashi, Murasakibara, Aomine, Midorima and Kuroko on the court."

Aomine interjected spoke to Akashi. "I don't think we should show them all our moves yet." He pointed to Kuroko. "We should let Kuroko sit out for now and see how the match goes. It should be easy since they are basically a no name team but if we need him we can substitute him back in."

Akashi thought to himself for a moment and whispered something quietly to the coach and he nodded his head in response. "Ok. We'll take out Kuroko and replace him with Kise."

The coach continued on with his strategy asking for 3 of their team mates to pin down the others and so Midorima can have free shots to the hoop.

"So are we good?" Aomine impatiently asked, twirling his wrists. he was impatient since he wanted to play basketball.

"Do you know what to do?" The coach asked him.

"Yes. I'll just stick nearby player number 7 and we should be good."

"Okay. Good enough. Keep your footwork in line and this should be an easy game."

* * *

The first quarter of the match went smoothly and all according to the coach's strategy until Jushikan's coach called for a time out and substituted one of their players. It was the smaller male that they saw while stretching. This player was labelled with a number 19 on his jersey and he used his height to his advantage. He went under Murasaki's and Midorima's legs to pass the ball around to his team mates. He was almost like Kuroko and seemed to understand how his height helped out. The ball kept disappearing out of Aomine's vision and if he didn't know about the opponents small player, he would have thought it was a ghost cursing their game.

It was a tough second quarter and Jushikan was gradually closing the gap. The scoreboard read 15-27 in Teiko's favour. The smaller player zoomed under the players legs and reached the end to the hoop and shot some of his own goals. Since no one realised where he was, he almost had free reign of the court. It was difficult to keep up with him and once they saw the ball in the air, everyone reacted too slowly to push it out of the air. The ball should have been easy to catch for Murasaki but he didn't even notice it fly by.

They thought that if they keep the ball in the air, that the enemy number 19 wouldn't reach did work out but passing the ball all the way to lonesome Midorima was a challenge. They kept trying to stick to their strategy by pinning down the enemies but couldn't keep sight on the little squirt. Midorima kept scoring as much as he can from the halfway mark and every time he scored the crowed would go in awe from the throw distance. He was slowly training himself to throw a hoop at full court distance but he didn't want to use it now in case he missed.

There was only two minutes left of the quarter and Kuroko was itching to play. He had his own challenge now to beat a male similar to him in play style. He kept looking up to his coach in case he said something about a time out but it never came. I guess they didn't want to put him to use yet so they didn't show all their cards but because everyone else on his team were taller than him, their stances were wider which mean room for the other phantom to go underneath. The whistle blew and it was the end of the quarter. Teiko was ahead in score but barely.

Coach Sanada didn't anticipate their switch in players so he thought the generation of miracles could pull this off without Kuroko. But unfortunately it didn't work since their height was a disadvantage. Luckily they had Kuroko and since they trained their syncronisation he was suited to play alongside the team. "Hmm..We have to put Kuroko in."

"Oh really. About time." Aomine retorted.

"How come you didn't use a time out to put him in?" Midorima fixed his glasses and made sure his hands well rested for the next half since they relied on his long range shots.

"I didn't think we needed him this badly since you guys should be geniuses but what's done is done. You ready Kuroko?"

"Yes coach. I'll tail him and do some passes of my own." Kuroko was pumped to face someone suited for himself.

"Well that settles it. Go win the match." he finished speaking before the bell rang signalling the end of the break.

During the third quarter it was a constant race between the two phantoms. They were rushing and racing as low as they could to the ground to become undetectable to the other players. It was almost like an invisible battle that only those two were aware of. Kuroko did have the edge since he was taller and his hand span was wider, but the other was shorter and could also shoot hoops. It made Kuroko jealous of this ability but he was slowly learning himself. Kuroko was lost inside his head for a split second and his target zoomed away and shot a goal.

Aomine noticed the distress on his face since he was trying to keep his eyes on everyone. He came up to him after the ball made it through the hoop and gave him words of encouragement. "Don't give up. I am your light, I'll carry you through the maze."

Kuroko smiled at this reply and it gave him an added bonus of energy to overcome and push past the small antics of the second phantom. Now every chance Kuroko had with the ball, he passed it to Aomine and then passed to Akashi and finally to Midorima to score a three pointer.

Kuroko kept up the pace of his ignite passes and depended on Aomine. His dark blue hair was visible from whatever angle Kuroko was situated which meant quick and easy ignite passes whenever the opportunity arised. The ball appeared red during the ignite passes. It passed for almost half the court and if Aomine no, the whole team didn't train with him then they might break their hands trying to catch it. Aomine did his part on the team and Kuroko tried to maintain his. His smaller target was tricky to follow since legs were in the way but that didn't stop him from keeping up.

Unfortunately once Number 19 scored, the crowd started chanting out 'Jushikan, Jushikan' really loudly. Momoi knew that they were trying to raise morale for the other team but she started her own chant "Teiko, Teiko." She kept shouting and punch the air till people joined in with her. The encouragement made Midorima score basket after basket until they were 30 points up. The finally whistle blew and the scoreboard read 27-57 announcing Teiko Junior High as the victors.

* * *

After the match and the players cooled down with fresh beverages and orange slices. The small number 19 player came forward asking to talk to Kuroko. He got up and moved away from him team in case if he needed to say something a bit more private.

"Hey. You were cool out there. Never seen someone so similar like myself on the court." He almost shouted it and then quickly shook his hands in front on his face. "Oh, sorry, I didn't introduce myself. I am Reno. You're Kuroko right?"

"Uh yeah. You were amazing on the court. Really an interesting challenge. So what did you want to talk about?"

"Just about how to improve my game play."

"But you're already better than me. You can shoot hoops and I can't."

"Well how about we do a trade? I can teach you to shoot from our height disadvantage and you can teach me how to use misdirection properly."

"Hmm. Sure, I'll teach you some things but after all we are opponents and we can't show all our cards."

"Yay. You're the best Kuroko. Here's my number we'll text each other and meet up to train okay." He smiled and grabbed a piece of paper from his bag and wrote down his number and Kuroko wrote down his. A womanly voice called out his name and he had to go since him mom was calling him. "See you. I'll text you later okay." He skipped off with a smile on his face.

At least someone could teach Kuroko to shoot hoops and hopefully this would work out for him.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Sorry I didn't update last week. I was busy with irl stuff. I'm going on holiday pretty soon so I will do another chapter and maybe finish off a one-shot before I go. Thank you to all the favourite and reviews I have gotten. I hope you enjoyed my basic attempt at a basketball match.

Please remember to review, favourite and follow if you enjoy my story :)


	6. It's a date (not really)

Italics is texts

Bold is a different language (English.)

Enjoy chapter 6 :)

* * *

Kuroko's phone beeped sharply with an upcoming message which woke him up form his nap. He accidentally fell asleep on his textbook while reading it for homework. His desk was compiled with books in stacks of 3 and a small note pad with scribbles and notes about each chapter summary. He was studying about the Chinese culture before he dozed off. He lazily fumbled his left arm around blindly,trying to find where he put the phone on his desk while his head was still place on his other arm like a cushion. He knocked a few pencils off his desk till he grabbed onto a rectangular shape which was his smart phone. He sighed opening his inbox and seeing multiple messages from Reno. All of them were about basketball pointers or this video he needed to check out. He casually replied to a video message saying he already saw it a few week back and Reno promptly replied.

 _We should meet up on the weekend and try out that move._ Kuroko's phone flashed and he politely turned him down. He didn't know if he had time this weekend from all the tests and upcoming exams. It was mid terms and even though Kuroko wasn't an A student he at least was a solid B. He wanted to improve him grades but if he went lower his mother would nag him to no end and take away the limited freedom he had. He sat up from his sleepy slouched position and placed his free hand on his cheek to hold his head up so he could browse the rest of his messages. From the clutter of spam from Reno he saw a text from Aomine. It read: W _e should hang out. I'm bored from studying and I need a break._ It was rare for him to text him about something completely unrelated to basketball. Kuroko smiled at the kind gesture and typed back that he agreed. _Anywhere is fine as long as it isn't pricey._ Was his message.

It took a while for Aomine to reply back so Kuroko went back to his reading and creating notes. He still had to create his important information sheet and catch up on math exercises which stressed him out. He knew what 1+1 is but why the hell did anyone want to know what the derivative of x was? It was all senseless to him but school made it compulsory. Kuroko went back into study mode and finished a chapter and a quarter before his phone buzzed again. He thought he put it on silent since it took his friend forever to reply but not everyone had the luxury of having their phone nearby.

 _How about we just go to lunch on the Saturday. From 2pm. Don't worry. It's just a burger joint. Let's go there._ "Burger Joint?" Kuroko muttered to himself as he looked at his study schedule. He was suppose to study for English writing but he could always have Aomine to help him out. T _he time sounds good. I just might need your help with some things English related. Where are we going to meet?_ Aomine relied back swiftly. _I'll come to your place. Like it is a date ;) HAHA_ Kuroko didn't know if it was sarcasm or not. It was hard to read emotions over text. _Not sure if you're joking about the date but thanks for picking me up._

* * *

Saturday came around quickly and it stressed out Kuroko since his exams started on the following Wednesday. English was first which was one of his worst subjects. It was partly cloudy in the afternoon but it didn't bother Kuroko since they would be eating indoors. Aomine came around a bit earlier than the time he said but it wasn't a bother.

"Where are we going?" Kuroko curiously asked.

"I told you, just a burger joint. It's not super popular but I love it. I go there for evening snacks because it's open twenty four, seven." Aomine replied.

"But I meant the name."

"Oh. Yeah, it's called Maji Burger." He smugly replied.

They walked down to the park and off to the main road till they saw a small little lot of fast food joints. One of them was chicken shop while the others Kuroko didn't recognise. Aomine opened the glass door to Maji Burger and said "after you" letting Kuroko in first. The store was similar to McDonald's but it was more orange and white. There were multiple booths by the window and small tables in the middle while the ordering counter was to the left from the front door. A big tv was playing world wide news but it was inaudible. They both ordered their food at the counter and waited till it was made.

"Sorry for bringing you out here on a Saturday. I was just super bored at home and studying made me agitated." Aomine spoke, getting comfortable in the booth they chose by the window.

"If I didn't want to come I would have texted you no. I needed a break from the house otherwise my brain would have turned to mush. But while we are here you can help me with some English." Kuroko pulled out his phone and looked at the photo he took last night of his English book. "I need you to help me pronounce some of these words."

The words weren't overly difficult for a non English speaker but the problem was pronouncing them properly. "Repeat after me. **I want to go to university when I'm older. Uni-wer-city.** You try."

" **I want to go to...Ooniversity** " Kuroko pronounced it weirdly but you could still understand him.

"Try again. Watch my lips. **University.** " Aomine's lips curved in a multitude of shapes.

"* **...University.** * Is this better?" Kuroko paused thinking how to do it and then flawlessly pronounced it. Both of them did have accents since it wasn't there national language but if an American passed by they could understand them.

"Order 76, please come up to the counter." The cashier spoke on the microphone.

Aomine looked down at their receipt and it matched the number that was spoken. "It's us, let's get out food and continue English after." Aomine's order was almost two times larger than Kuroko's. He ordered 3 burgers, a large chips and a medium soft drink while Kuroko just ordered a meal deal with a meat burger, fries and a small soft drink.

"Sho, what examm du youu have next?" Aomine spoke with his mouth still with food.

Kuroko was at least a bit more polite and swallowed his food before speaking. "I haven't had any yet but English is my first one. It's just the writing one so far. Not that stressful since it's just comprehension."

Aomine finished chewing his food this time and burped. "At least I can help you in one subject. I'm not bothered by mine. I'm going to hopefully pass."

Kuroko glared at the boy across from him. "You can't leave the exam to chance. You have to study. Akashi told me that you have to pass all exams otherwise the school won't let you play basketball."

Aomine sighed. "I guess I do. I love basketball too much to even stop playing. Do you think Midorima can help me?"

"He is really busy so I don't know. Doesn't hurt to ask." Kuroko grabbed some of his fries and started to eat again.

His companion quickly started texting on his phone and got a reply right back. "He said he would but he only has a couple of hours."

"That's good. He really is a hard worker and always gets in the top 5 so you've got the best tutor in the school." Kuroko stopped talking and kept eating fries while his free hand was placed against his cheek. He wouldn't know what to do if Aomine was suspended from basketball due to poor grades. He probably could manage and use someone else as his light but it wouldn't be the same.

* * *

They finished eating at Maji burger and were on their way home to resume studying. The sky was getting darker and small rain drops were falling but it wasn't wet enough for them to start sprinting home. Both Aomine and Kuroko were talking about the upcoming basketball matches in the world when Kuroko stopped suddenly beside a cardboard box which was near some trash cans.

"Wait up Aomine. I see something moving here." He edged closer to the box. Kuroko extended his arm to the box flap and lifted it up. Inside there was a small puppy who was primarily black and had white paws. The puppy had a white face with two circular eyebrows. The most distinguishing feature the dog had was the light blue eyes which were similar to Kuroko's. "It's a dog. I'm going to stand under the small cover from the rain, I don't want this dog getting any more wet."

"A dog? Who would leave such a thing outside near the trash. Damn humans." Aomine cursed.

"It is a shame but at least we found it. I think it is a boy though but I'm no vet."

"Err Kuroko... doesn't he look a bit like you?" Aomine clicked the connection in his head.

'Are you saying that because I am small that I look like a dog?"

"No, why would I say that as an insult?" A puzzled expression displayed on his face. "I meant that you guys have the same eye colour."

"Oh, I get you. It's not that rare of a colour. He could be my long lost pet." While Kuroko was talking, Aomine lifted the dog from the box and held it within his arms.

"What are we going to do with the dog? I can't just take it home with me. My dad will kill me if we have a pet." Aomine spoke, lightly stroking the dog which seemed to enjoy the warm touch of affection. It barked it pleasure.

"It obviously love you Aomine. Can't you persuade your dad?"

"Don't think so, he never budges but you can take it home. Kuroko, it loves you too. Here, you hold them." He placed it in Kuroko's arms so the dog wouldn't fall. "See, it's licking your hand."

"Hehe, it tickles. I could probably take it home. It does get lonely when I am in my room and will comfort me ... when my parents do fight."

"That settles it then. Let's hurry on back to your place so it doesn't get super wet. Thanks for coming out and having lunch with me Kuroko." He smiled while they both ran in the rain back to their own houses.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Sorry for the long delay. I took a holiday to a new state and none of my accounts were working because of the new location. But I'm back home and it works. If I'm not super lazy I can type out another chapter for tomorrow but expect chapter 7 next week. I'm slowly getting to the boy love, trust me ;)

Anyways, thanks for reading. **Favourite, review and follow.** All of them help me out a lot.


	7. Tetsuya the dog

"Have you decided on what to name him?" Aomine's was heard on the speaker of Kuroko's phone.

"Not really, I have been studying all morning. I'm lucky that my dad let me keep him since I am an only child." This was true. He pretty much got home, told his dad about how he found an abandoned puppy and convinced him to keep it in the house. He was studying mainly through the night and all through the morning till Aomine called him out of the blue.

"How about Kuroko number two?"

"I'm not calling the dog my own name, he'll get confused whenever my dad calls for me."

"Err, does Tetsuya sound nice?"

"I told you, it's like my name, way too confusing."

"Well okay. You'll figure it out. I was just giving ideas."

Kuroko and Aomine talked on speaker phone for a while longer while Kuroko was taking notes. Studying was boring but if he wanted to not pass, it had to be done.

"So how about those new Nike shoes for sale? You going to get them?" Aomine sounded cheerful about this, hinting that his birthday was coming up.

"I haven't seen them yet, should I look now? Want to send me a link by text?" Kuroko didn't look down at his phone and kept on writing his notes and highlighting key words.

Aomine was right on the mark. *Beep* his phone sounded as Kuroko got an incoming text. It was from the official store and the ones that Aomine was showing him were black with small lines of blue with a big dark blue Nike tick that would suit Aomine so well. Unfortunately the price wasn't as nice. It was $80 a pair.

"You really love blue Aomine." Kuroko teased. In fact, they both loved blue which was another thing they had in common.

"I really do and there isn't anything wrong with that. Do you like the shoes though?" He questioned.

"I do... but that price. My parents wouldn't let me get them." He sighed.

"Yeah... but do you think that you could get them as a gift?" Aomine was beating around the bush, he really wanted Kuroko to get them for his birthday but was too chicken to blurt it out.

"Not sure, there aren't any give giving events soon so I can't beg my parents."

"Well, there is one give giving event that you should know." Aomine soft, soothing voice was heard through the phone as he tried to sweet talk Kuroko. "My birthday is coming up, and I thought that since I play basketball a lot that shoes would be practical, so maybe... you could get them for me."

"Oh. Why not just say that. I'll have to go ask my mum to take me shopping or to buy it online but who knows when she'll be back. Just have to get her in a good mood..." His words droned off. (What if she said no? ) He wanted to get Aomine something nice, just as he had gotten Momoi a bracelet weeks ago.

"You've still got a few weeks. It's August 31st so don't forget okay. We'll do something nice on my birthday, I'll pay for an outing." He sounded ecstatic on the other end.

"I'll try and get them for you, I promise. Listen.. I should get back to studying. It was nice talking to you but I still have plenty to do. See you tomorrow at school okay." Kuroko briefly replied and hung up on Aomine after he replied with a bye.

He was now in solitude, free to study in silence except for the few scratching sounds and whimpers he heard behind him. He also heard shuffling on the bed and then a jump where the dog landed on the floor and shuffled to the window. The dog's whimpers slowly escalated and Kuroko couldn't concentrate to his full potential. He slowly turned in his computer chair to see the poor puppy sticking his head through the curtain to view the outside of the house.

"What's wrong Tetsuya?" _Damn, I didn't want to call him that but Aomine kind of got it stuck in my head._ "What's wrong boy? What's outside?" He stood up from his chair and walked to the window to where the dog was. Pulling back the curtain he noticed the bright weather and a few birds around the tree in his backyard. He went to pick up the dog and hugged it close to his chest. "Let's go for a short walk." He balanced the dog with one arm as he opened the door and walked over to the living room to ask his dad if they had a leash.

"Hey dad, do we have a leash, he really wants a walk." He stood in in the living room directly across from his father. They had changed the layout of the living room a few weeks ago to add a newer black couch, a few pot plants to liven up the place in the left corner behind Kuroko and hung up the TV against the wall. The room was repainted to a light brown colour similar to coffee.

"Huh?" His dad looked up from the magazine he was reading about cooking. "I'm not sure. You could check the closet."

"Thanks dad." Kuroko replied while walking out of the room to the closet which was next to the bathroom. He checked inside it and he did find a collar but no leash. "We don't have one. Can you buy me a cheap one while I am at school tomorrow?" He raised his voice a bit to project it all the way back to his dad.

"I will when I go pick up some groceries. Do we at least have a collar?" He got up and walked over to his son so he wouldn't shout.

"Yeah, we do but I think a new one will suit him better. Red's a nice colour, plus I won't lose him in my bed sheets since it will stick out.

"Okay, I'll write it on my list. Shouldn't you keep studying though? Dinner isn't going to be for a few more hours." He sternly questioned, placing one hand against his hip.

"Don't worry about me. I needed a bit of fresh air. I might just go play in the backyard with him okay."

"Just make sure he doesn't dig up the tulips." His dad replied as he walked back to the living room.

* * *

Kuroko made his way even further down the hall till they both had reached the laundry. They kept the back door locked in case of flies so Kuroko unlocked it briskly and the dog leapt out the door barking at the bird he saw before.

"Hey slow down there Tetsuya." He mumbled as he closed the door behind him. It was a fairly small backyard spanning to about ten meters length wise. They had a small flower patch along the back aluminium fence with a washing line to the right hand side and a blossoming tree off to the left. The bathroom was also at the back of the house but it had a fairly small and blurry glassed window so his parents decided to get the area underneath paved in grey slabs and place a bench with a cactus pot plant next to it because it didn't need as much water as the tulips and daffodils. The dog was under the tree barking upwards to the birds in hopes to communicate or scare them off.

The warm sunlight hit his pale skin making him squint his eyes and place his hand on his forehead vertically to block the incoming sun. He found a discarded stick underneath the tree and grabbed it with his free hand. "Tetsuya, fetch." He wiggled the stick in his right hand which sparked the puppy's attention. An "arf" was heard from the dog so Kuroko threw it lightly around the backyard. The dog was reluctant to return the stick sometimes so it became a tug of war but overall they both enjoyed the fresh air and the change of surroundings instead of being cramped up in his bedroom. "I wonder if I can teach him any tricks?" He mumbled to himself, walking back to the shade of the tree as the dog came rushing back to his side with the chewed up stick in his mouth. He was done with the stick so he took it out of the dogs mouth and placed it on the green grass.

"Sit." Kuroko spoke. The dog just titled his head since he was confused. "Tetsuya.' The dog barked. (At least he knows his name so I probably will have to stick with it.) "Tetsuya, sit" He pointed his finger downwards but the dog just barked. "Ugh, how do I teach him." he became more frustrated when the dog wouldn't sit.

His dad came outside and heard Kuroko grunt in anger. "I was wondering what you were doing out here."

"I'm just trying to teach him how to sit. Because he is my dog I want him to at least know some things." Kuroko turned his head over to the direction of his dad who was sitting on the bench under the small window.

"That's not how you teach a dog. You need to lightly show him how it is done and give him a treat." He calmly replied. "That's how parents teach babies, we show them how to do it and calmly talk. You have to be his role model." He smiled while petting his lap. "Here boy" Tetsuya came running over to him, jumped right onto the bench and placed his head onto his lap.

"But dad, we don't have any treats." Kuroko complained as he sat on the other side of his dad.

"I'll just add dog supplies to the shopping. Collar, leash, shampoo, food, some waste bags, snacks and maybe a small chew toy. I'll get you all these things but you have to take care of it okay. Groom it and clean it." His dad's adult side was coming through since he wanted to teach Kuroko responsibility.

"Yeah I'll do all that and he can sleep with me." He meekly smiled while petting the panting dog.

"So what did you name it?"

"I didn't name it, Aomine my friend did. He's now called Tetsuya." It's like the dog and Kuroko were now brothers.

* * *

Exam week went on without any problems on Kuroko's end. He was sure he passed but at the same time was worried about his dark blue haired friend. The thoughts of him losing his light were frightening but it would be Aomine's fault if anything happened. The exam results were posted the following week and Kuroko placed in the top 200 out of 500 students in their year. Now the problem was to find Aomine's name.

He stretched his body to look up higher and scan all the names that were pinned up on the board. "Ao, ao, ao..." He muttered to himself as he contorted his body in the mass of students.

"Where is it?" He searched thoroughly through the list. He knew what he first name was but Aomine wasn't a very common surname. He reached around the 320 mark and saw his name. He was placed 322 out of 500 which was good. He got about 60% overall which was better than a pass. Kuroko decided to get out of the way from the crowd and text Aomine the good news.

 _You passed with an alright score. Congrats. :)_ The text read as he sent it to Aomine.

He felt someone tap him on his shoulder. "Oh sorry, I'll move out the way."

"It's me silly" the deep voice replied back as he looked up to see Aomine.

"Hey there, what are you doing here?" Kuroko had a blank moment.

"We still have classes silly, it is a school day." Aomine replied almost sarcastically.

"Oh yeah. I've just been away from school for so long to remember. Do we have practice later in the afternoon?" He tried to initiate casual conversation.

"Yeah we do, I spoke to Akashi before I walked over here."

"Ah okays. I'll see you then, class is about to start." The warning bell rung so Kuroko wanted to rush to class. It was rude to be tardy.

"Yeah, see you..." He replied and walked off all slumped.

Kuroko will need remember ask Aomine about his sudden mood.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:** Sorry. I've got a lot of ideas for this story but I'm just all over the place. I'm planning to do Aomine's birthday next as a date ;)

Remember to favourite/review/follow


	8. Weird Aomine

They didn't talk much during the lunch break but it didn't matter, Aomine was still in his mood and Kuroko didn't know how to bring it up. He didn't even know what was wrong. All he could do was stare at Aomine from afar in the over-crowded cafeteria. His friend's eyes were dim and a misty dark blue as if he was really troubled and his body posture looked as if he was deep in thought. One arm sprawled across the length of the table while the other was directly under his chin. Kuroko decided that it was enough and he had to go talk to him but as he got up the lunch bell rang loudly that jolted the slouched Aomine from his abruptly rose from his seat and past Kuroko by the door without a glance. It surely was strange and unnatural.

* * *

Sure, Aomine was deep in thought but he was just confused in himself. He didn't notice the day going by him as he was lost in his head. Kuroko gave him weird feelings and he didn't understand what it meant. Was it maybe because he was going to get him the expensive pair of shoes for his birthday? _It must have been excitement_ , he nodded his head slightly agreeing with himself. Nothing had changed between them so his feelings for Kuroko shouldn't change either. _I'll go talk to him after class, get this sorted out. He might think he did something wrong and that's the last thing I want to do... push him away.._ He really couldn't be bothered in class to take notes since the teacher kept droning on and on about how to work out a math question. Mid terms were over so he didn't need to focus all his attention till the next set of exams.

He had his work book out for his maths class so he decided to at least look busy and write down some thoughts so he wouldn't get in trouble by the teacher for 'day dreaming.' He really wasn't sure if he should apologise or pretend nothing happened, but Kuroko was a curious kid and he wanted to share his thoughts but he really didn't know himself. _Would he hate me?, Should I tell him I feel weird? He'd probably think I feel sick and need to rest..._ were scribbled over his page. He tapped his pencil loudly on his page which gained the teacher attention.

"Aomine are you done with the exercises I have written on the board?" The teacher turned from the whiteboard to face the row of desks in front of her now.

Exercises? Oh, that's right he was still in maths class. "No miss, I'm just trying to solve question 4." His eyes quickly scanned the board trying to find a exercise number.

"Good good. Just be quiet since other students are trying to solve the questions as well and need concentration." She turned around and went back to writing the rest.

Minutes did pass and Aomine was getting no where with his train of thoughts so he decided to at least occupy his brain with the questions. He looked back up and saw that she had given them 20 questions in total and Aomine had not done a single one. He really didn't want to have homework so he went quickly by to solve them.

The teacher cleared her throat."Okay class, write down the remainder of the questions and this will be your homework for tonight. I'll check it in our next maths lesson which will be in two days. Also, don't forget we have a test next week. Those who will score below a pass will need to take an after school lesson with me." She spoke with a clear voice and tapped the board with her pointer to the questions and the test reminder written in the top right corner near the clock which read 3pm.

He quickly scribbled it down, giving his hand a cramp, packed his stuff in his shoulder backpack. He flung it over his shoulder and almost whacked his desk mate but he didn't care as he walked out the classroom door to find his buddy Kuroko. He didn't run through the long halls but he did speed walk to get to his classroom faster. Aomine sped through the masses of people leaving their classroom through the hall but because he was tall he didn't lose his footing or balance till he stopped in front of an English classroom. He peeked through the door and saw Kuroko still sitting at his desk, taking his time with writing down something from the whiteboard. Aomine quietly slid the door open to not draw attention to himself and walked slowly over to his friend. He placed one of his palms on the desk beside Kuroko and leant against it trying to appear casual.

He swallowed abruptly so he wouldn't jumble his words and it caught Kuroko's attention. "Sorry for ignoring you today. I am in a bit of a mood and wanted to stay to myself." Aomine mumbled the sorry and scratched the back of his head, bending it forwards.

"Huh? Don't worry about it. We all have our depressive moods." Kuroko responded back but didn't look up at him. They had a moment of silence and all that could be heard was Kuroko writing away in his notebook. "Okay, I'm done." He folded his pages carefully not to crinkle them and placed them nice and orderly in his backpack. "Let's go to basketball practice shall we." He looked now up at Aomine who still had his head tilted downwards. Kuroko thought that Aomine didn't see him so he stood right up against his chest and looked directly up into his eyes. "Did you head me?"

The thoughts he was having before were coming back to Aomine. "Yeah I did." He didn't flinch at Kuroko staring at him. "I'll follow you." He smiled and stopped slouching on the desk. As he was standing upright his body pushed more against Kuroko's which made his face get squished by his abs. "Mind moving back? I don't want you hurt you."

Kuroko knew he had some muscle but it certainly was more defined that he thought. "Sure, let's go, we are already late and Akashi would make us run laps around the gym again."

Aomine walked behind his friend, eyeing him up and down which made so many thoughts just run through his head again.

* * *

 **Author Notes:** Short chapter but I wanted to post something right now. Sometimes I'm really lazy to get on the PC. I might need to write 2 chapters ahead so I can at least post more. Thanks for everyone viewing my story we have 1600 views :D The most I've ever had.

Don't forget to **Review/Favourite/Follow** me for more chapters to come :)


	9. Wet Dream

(Wet dream warning. Hope it is mild enough. Going to change the rating of the story for this chapter. Let's hope they get together soon.)

* * *

It was two thirty in the morning and Aomine woke up from his sleep panting for the second time this week. The streetlight was lightly shining through his black curtains revealing the mess of homework and school clothes on the floor. His bed sheets were wrapped around one of his legs from all his tossing and turning through his slumber. The room had a cool temperature but his pants felt hot, sticky and tight. He sat upright against his pillows and placed both his hands on the sides of his head, combing his fingers through his hair as an attempt to relax. Taking a few deep breaths, he needed a moment or two to reconstruct his dream.

It started off simply enough with Aomine and Kuroko playing on his video game console at his house, both laughing and smiling and whatever was on the television screen. Aomine seemed to have lost at the game so Kuroko moved closer to his face and stuck his tongue out playfully.

"You lost, you know what that means." He smirked revealing his teeth. He inclined his body closer in as he gave Aomine a quick peck on the lips and grabbed his hand. "Lets go to the bed it'll be easier there."

"Oh, so you did want to do it." Aomine climbed on the bed and mounted Kuroko who was already laying there.

"Well yeah, you know we don't bet as a joke. Besides, it's more fun to make playtime a game." Kuroko winked and lifted up his grey shirt as a tease, showing his navel and his pale skin. "Only look for now." He seductively spoke, swirling one of his nipples through the cloth, to make it erect.

Aomine still mounted saw just how Kuroko's body reacted to light stimulation with his breathing becoming a fraction shallower for those sweet moans to come. He knew that it was his job to get the other erect so he lifted up the shirt to expose both nipples and used his sweet tongue and mouth to suck and slurp on it.

"Aah, don't make it too wet okay, I don't want to make a mess." He spoke slowly through his moans.

Aomine got turned on from Kuroko's sweet body and began kissing all the way down his abdomen, and stopped just above his waistline to give him a red hickey. He panted as he broke contact with his skin and began stroking the visible red marking. "You know you're mine right?" His seductive voice hummed as he went to give a smaller hickey on the other side of his partners body.

"I know I am yours, but aren't you avoiding our deal." Kuroko now playing with both his nipples, pinching and twisting them to his pleasure. His body reacted in ecstasy as he arched his back and thrusted his pelvis into Aomine's which made their dicks touch through the clothing.

He felt his partners twitching member through the clothes as he slowly unbuttons his pants and lightly touched the skin, making Kuroko wait in anticipation. He moves his legs to be inbetween Kuroko's to not do a half assed job. "Easy, no teeth okay." Aomine mumbled to himself mentally preparing himself for the task ahead as he lowers his head to just above it. He starts off slow, by holding it in one of the hands while the other is placed besides Kuroko for stability. Aomine's face got all wet and sticky, licking up and down Kuroko's member till he goes and deepthroats it and starts giving a very seductive blowjob.

Aomine didn't know what other things happened in his dream since he woke up after Kuroko moaned loudly in pleasure which probably made him wet himself. The whole dream was insanely hot which made Aomine feel completely confused. _Did he really get off to his best friend?_ Just thinking about the dream made him get hard all over again and he didn't expect it to go down anytime soon unless he did it himself. He untangled his leg from the nasty bed sheets and kicked some of the papers on the floor to make room for push ups. It did end up helping after he got past the thirty mark but whenever he thought about Kuroko topless it would start to get harder. He gave up after 50 push ups since he didn't want to tire himself out for school.

"Ugh" He grunted to himself, getting back onto his bed as he laid there facing the ceiling. "Whatever shall I do with you." He felt his shaft get tighter in his pants so he slid a hand down and started playing with himself. Using his dream for material he got himself off quickly. He felt dirty for thinking about his friend but things were only going to get worse.

* * *

One night after dinner Kuroko messaged his mother about Aomine's gift idea. He was going to do it in person but she hadn't been home in 3 weeks which honestly didn't bother them since they loved the peace, minus Tetsuya barking at the moving objects from the front window. They had stir fry with noodles which meant his dad was in a good mood. He only cooks his favourite stir fry dish without rice whenever he is in a happy mood.

He took out his phone from his pocket and found his mum's contact and sent her a heart emoji with a small message attached to it: _When are you coming home? I have something important to ask you._ He didn't receive a reply after ten minutes so he decided to take Tetsuya on a walk and text Aomine when he got home. Tetsuya looked fabulous in his new collar and leash that his dad had bought him. He was a obedient puppy who was learning new tricks and getting into minor troubles everyday. They walking down their usual route so he was thinking about how Aomine acted very withdrawn. They took a turn to the nearby park with a few kids playing on the swings. It was a small park inbetween housing units but it still had a all sorts of lush green trees scattered around, a sandpit and a swing and slide set. There wasn't a basketball court for Kuroko but he could just go to school with his captains permission to practice on the weekends. Kuroko sat down at the park bench facing the playground, letting the dog sniff around the nearby shrubbery and smile happily.

"What's up with you Tetsuya, want to play fetch? Go down the slide?" What was he doing, talking to a dog. Really sounded weird but he was starved of conversation since Aomine barely speaks 5 words to him during school and only yelled in their basketball practice. The dog jumped up to reach the seat and whined next to him. "You're right. I should message him now instead of later. Beep beep beep his fingers went as they touched his virtual keyboard and typed: _Aomine, I miss talking to you, what's up?_ It was simple and gave Aomine breathing room to redirect the conversation if he wanted to. "Okay Tetsuya, let's do a lap." Kuroko came prepared by wearing his white training shirt, orange shorts and his basketball sneakers for that extra bounce before coming to the park. "Arf" His dog barked seemingly understanding as they began to jog around the block and loop back home.

Kuroko arrived home twenty minutes later as the sun was settling down and noticed a weird car parked by the front gate. The windows were fairly tinted but he could see two figures in the car. "Mom?" He leanned in right up to the window to make sure it was her and asked.

She shooed him backwards with her hand to make sure he didn't get hit by the door as she opened it to speak. "Hello Tetsu. It's been a while. Did you eat well? Who's this with you?" Her voice sounded cheery as looked down to the dog.

Inside was a male driver who looked bored and Kuroko only felt like he was intruding on some adult conversation. "I am well. Sorry for interrupting. I'll talk to you when you get inside." He waved to both of them and his mother wiggled her fingers back at him but the man didn't even care. Kuroko began unlocking the door and cleaning his shoes and heard a low gruff voice talk.

"So this is your house, very classy. I'll see you in a few days, don't be late." The car door was still open so when Kuroko heard the man speak he saw him smirk at his mother but didn't think much of it. _Not my problem._ He thought to himself as he unclicked the dog leach and Tetsuya went rampant jumping and barking everywhere. What a hyper dog.

She came in a few moments later after an engine sound and a car beep and came to the kitchen with her suitcase in one hand and her blue pumps in the other. She found her husband and gave him a loose hug since she was still carrying her belongings. "Hello darling, I'm home." She spoke relieved after being gone for so long.

"What's got you all happy?" His father asked, putting the kettle on as she walked off to their bedroom to drop off her things.

She came back dressed in some grey sweat pants and her peach worktop being unbuttoned at the top. "Is it wrong for a woman to be happy?" She gracefully accepted his tea as they sat down in the living room with the television on to rewind. News was playing but Kuroko only cared about two things. Sports and the weather. After those segments were over his took out his phone again, ignored the text messages and opened up the webpage with the sneakers.

"Mom. I want to show you something." he nervously asked in case she said no.

"Is there something wrong?" She asked questionably.

"No, but I do want you to buy me something." He passed his phone into her hand.

"Those looks like great shoes and a good brand too. But why are you showing me this sweetie?" She sipped on her warm tea in one hand and held his phone in the other scrolling down to see the reviews. "Didn't we get you a new pair of shoes just before I left?"

"We did, but these aren't for me." He fidgeted in his seat. "They are for a friend. He wants them for his birthday and he's done so much for me. I thought a pair of shoes was the least I can do."

"Which friend? I didn't know you had any?" She certainly did miss a lot of his life in the past 6 months.

"Aomine. He plays basketball with him and we take care of the dog. Don't worry, we have food and i take him on walks."

"I think I've heard of Aomine before. I might have done business with his father. Never mind the dog for now, at least none of us are allergic. I'm sure you're responsible enough to take care of a pet." She replied, thinking to herself if she could spare the extra cash for the shoes, of course she could. "Do you want to go to the store or buy them online?"

He raised his head and his facial expression changed into an ecstatic child. "You're going to get them. Thank you, thank you mother. You're the best. It might be a bit late to get them online due to shipping so let's go into the store. Is the weekend good for you?"

She gave back his phone and brushed the bangs from his forehead. "It should be, I don't have anything planned for the weekend but I do have to go to the office soon. Right now though, I just want to relax." She snuggled up to her partner on the other side.

* * *

 **Authors Notes:** Thanks for reading this chapter. I have another one which will be more angsty but getting there. My writing is terrible but I like to write.

Remember to favourite/follow/review :)


End file.
